EDITORIAL: It’s time to OK Keystone pipeline

It’s been more than 1,700 days since the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline was first proposed to the federal government by a Canadian company.

The pipeline would bring hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from Alberta, Canada, into the U.S., every day.

Since taking office in 2009, President Barack Obama has set out to delay and postpone approval of the pipeline at every chance. Given the ample time for review of this important oil pipeline, and given a recent environmental draft by the U.S. State Department that found no significant threat to the environment, the White House needs to speed up the approval — and give a nod this summer or sooner.

The U.S. House of Representatives is concerned about the status of the Keystone XL pipeline, and the politics involved and is considering removing the State Department and other agencies from the approval process.

The stakes are high with the Keystone XL pipeline. It would create good-paying jobs and help keep downward pressure on the world’s market price for oil. And it would create a stronger economic connection between the U.S. and Canada, decreasing dependence on oil from the turbulent Middle East. Indeed, according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the 830,000 barrels of oil per day expected from Keystone XL is half of the oil the U.S. imports from the Middle East.

The proposed pipeline receives State Department review because it crosses the U.S. border. After an application in September 2008, the Obama administration took over the review process. It waited until August 2011 to release its final environmental impact statement, which found no serious negative impacts.

Obama killed the route for the pipeline in January 2012, asking TransCanada to reapply. And he postponed a final decision until 2013, well after the presidential election.

TransCanada moved the pipeline route away from a Nebraska aquifer. Yet the Canadian government is worried their best trading partner is going to kill the pipeline anyway.

That could mean China will get the oil instead of the United States. This is one reason why denying the pipeline would change nothing in terms of overall environmental impact.

Two different reports indicate there would be minimal environmental impact from the energy pipeline — and there are hundreds of pipelines already operating within the United States.

The pipeline has bipartisan support. Seventeen Democrats in the Senate recently joined the GOP to approve an amendment to support the Keystone XL pipeline.

A sure way to harm any economic recovery is to limit trade and tamp down oil supply.

Environmental concerns are important, but pipelines are safe. Obama is running out of excuses. Reportedly, a decision on approval could come in the fall.

It should come sooner than that. President Obama and his State Department need to approve the Keystone pipeline without further delay.